Hope for Florida’s dwindling manatees as review could restore protections

After years of dwindling numbers, caused by habitat loss, toxic algae pollution and decimation of food supplies, Florida’s embattled manatees may finally catch a break.

A process is under way that could see the species restored to the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered species list in the coming months, reversing a decision made by the administration of Donald Trump in 2017 that environmentalists say was calamitous.

If approved at the conclusion of a recently announced 12-month in-depth review, an uplisting from manatees’ current threatened status would free vital federal resources and funding for recovery efforts that have withered amid an ongoing “unusual mortality event”.

“We are at a critical point. We’ve lost 20% of the entire manatee population over the course of two years and that resulted directly after the service downlisted the species back to threatened,” said Ragan Whitlock, staff attorney specializing in endangered species at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD).